Magomed Ankalaev has continued his strong form in the light heavyweight division after securing a dominant unanimous decision win over Thiago Santos in the main event of a UFC Fight Night at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
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It was an eighth straight win for the Russian, who moves to 17-1 (9 KO) in his career. It was very much a tactical win for the 29-year-old in a fight where both competitors were restrained and cautious. Ankalaev landed the better blows through the first, third, fourth and fifth rounds to earn a 49-46 49-46 48-47 triumph on the judges’ score cards. Santos, who has now lost four of his last five trips to the Octagon, did enjoy a strong second round when he dropped Ankalaev and managed to get in top position for some ground-and-pound before the bell rang.
Nonetheless, this was very much a battle between one fighter on the rise and one on the wane, with Ankalaev taking the biggest win of his career to date and announcing himself as a potential contender for the lightweight championship.
“Thiago definitely has power in both hands, he caught me early in the fight with one [strike] and he wobbled me, to be honest,” said Ankalaev in a post-fight interview, via an interpreter. “But I stayed calm and composed and everything went well.”
He added, “It feels great to go the whole distance [of a five-round main event fight, for the first time in his career] with a veteran and such a fighter as Thiago. It’s now up to the UFC. I feel I deserve the title shot next, but we’ll see what happens.”
The rest of the main card saw Song Yadong defeat Marlon Moraes via first-round knockout in the bantamweight division; Sodiq Yusuff outpointed fellow featherweight Alex Caceres for a unanimous decision triumph; Khalil Rountree Jr knocked out Karl Roberson in a light heavyweight clash; Drew Dober did the same to Terrance McKinney in the lightweight division; and the card opened with a unanimous decision win for Alex Pereira over Bruno Silva in the middleweight category.
The next UFC event is a Fight Night at the O2 Arena in London, England headlined by a heavyweight clash between Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall on the evening of Saturday 19 March 2022.
UFC Fight Night: Santos v Ankalaev – Main card results
- Main event: Light heavyweight: Magomed Ankalaev def. Thiago Santos via unanimous decision (49-46 49-46 48-47), R5, 5:00
- Bantamweight: Song Yadong def. Marlon Moraes via KO (punches), R1, 2:06
- Featherweight: Sodiq Yusuff def. Alex Caceres via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 29-28), R3, 5:00
- Light heavyweight: Khalil Rountree Jr def. Karl Roberson via KO (body kick & punches), R2, 0:25
- Lightweight: Drew Dober def. Terrance McKinney via TKO (knee and punches), R1, 3:17
- Middleweight: Alex Pereira def. Bruno Silva via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 30-27), R3, 5:00